Catch and Release fishing

[DTro]

The other night Dr Steven Cooke from Carleton University presented a seminar at the U of M on the effects of catch and release fishing. I was not able to attend however I was forwarded some highlights/notes of the presentation. These notes generally refer to all species across the board. Obviously some species can tolerate some of these factors better than others, but in general if we practice catch and release fishing, then here are some things we should be thinking about:

Main Factors for mortality in catch and release fishing

Temperature (higher temp =higher mortality)

Hook location and depth

Air exposure (time out of the water)

Best way for us to protect fish is to minimize deep hooking. Circle Hooks are best way to decrease deep hooking and there is huge reduction (50% or more) in mortality among fresh and saltwater species when circle hooks were used. This is especially important with natural/live baits as there is an increase in novice anglers and passive fishing. Circle hooks should be advocated when possible and while studies showed that barbless hooks generally caused about the same amount of damage as barbed hooks, they decreased time out of the water, as the unhooking process was easier.

When a fish swallows a hook we should always just cut the line and do not try to yank the hook out. When a line is cut or breaks off, the fish are usually surviving. Some fish were tracked with hook in them and almost all of them had either dislodged the hook on their own or passed the hook out of their digestive system within a week.

When it comes to handling and releasing a fish after a long fight, DO NOT push back and forth in the water, pulling them backward just counteracts the forward flow and defeats the purpose. Instead hold them behind the gills or by the mouth and move them around in a figure 8 pattern similar to a natural swimming motion. For bigger fish in a body of water without current you can also slowly motor around while holding the fish.

Support the fish horizontally when handling and do not hold a large fish vertically by the mouth, gills, or jaw (even if using a lip grip).

Predation can also be a factor when releasing smaller exhausted fish in bodies of water with predators such as Muskies/Pike. A good way to test if a fish is ready to swim away is to turn it upside down and if they float there for 3 seconds or more without swimming away then they need help. If they swim away on their own, they are fine.

For more information you can Google “Technical Guidelines for a Responsible Fishery”

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Bottom line is that if we are practicing catch and release there are some things we can all do to minimize mortality and give these fish a better chance to survive after being caught. Most of us reading this here are well aware of these things, but even if only a few learn something new then its worth the time to share and while sometimes I’m just as guilty as the next guy for not following all these to a T, it’s a good discussion to have and the more we talk about it, the higher our awareness will be and the more our fishery will benefit.

[leechlake]

Dtro,

good post. Over the past few years I've noticed that with many walleyes that we kept but were gut hooked we cut the line and left the hooks in that the hooks actually came out of the fish while still in the live well which is usually 2-3 hours only. I was surprised at first but witnessed it a few more times this open water season. Made me a big advocate of just cutting the line for released fish. How these hooks come out is a mystery to me because many times they looked buried in a bad spot in these fish.

[CANOPY SAM]

Great post DTro! Thanks.

[gunner55]

+ 3 on your post DTro.I love to fish for slabs but I'm not into putting a bunch of fish in the freezer.We've been on a good bite here for the better part of 2 months but I'm about done fishing for slabs in open water.With the cool,windy,& wet weather here the area lakes have turned over so the crappie are headed to the deep water which makes it tough to C&R.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Great post and a lot of really good information!

[aanderud]

Good post, dtro.

I can attest that in my experience, the barbless hook does indeed reduce the time out of water. With channel catfish tough mouths, barbed hooks can easily take 10 to 30 seconds to pull out, even with a good pliers, on occasion. Barbless hooks literally slide right out in 1-2 seconds.

I'm guilty of using fish grips to hold fish by the mouth, especially when weighing them. I'm guessing it's not killing many (if any) fish, but it's probably not good for them either. In the future I'll probably reserve the weighing step for only the largest fish, and probably find a better way to weigh them -- e.g. in a bag or net. There's an older couple I know that will net a fish and keep it boatside, pull the hook and release it without even pulling the fish in the boat. For them, unless it's something special it doesn't even come in the boat.

And finally, I'm surprised to see that water depth wasn't mentioned as a top factor in survival rates (alongside temperature, hook location/depth, and air exposure). I've seen some other studies that showed survival rates of walleyes from deep water (>30 feet) were extremely low, even when not gut hooked and not out of the water very long.

[Igor Drackenwolf]

That's good info... I think snipping the line every time a fish is gut-hooked is a little bit of a cop-out though. It makes us feel absolved to watch the fish swim away, but we have no idea what happens to it after it's out of sight.

I think that the size of the hook/lure, and how deeply and firmly it is imbedded in the gut matters greatly to the mortality. An 0/5 Bass hook lodged deep in the throat is not going to dissolve or pass through the digestive system. If it is not removed, the fish will perish.

I think every effort should first be made to quickly and efficiently remove the hook if it is of a size or location that threatens the fish, and it can be removed without doing catastrophic damage.

If that is not possible, then snip.

For bass, there's a great method of deep-hook removal that every fisherman should memorize...

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...s-a#Post2883974

Learn that, and you'll save the life of a fish every now and then.

[dfv87]

Great post I was unaware of the back and forth motion being bad. I will refrain from that in the future.

"For bigger fish in a body of water without current you can also slowly motor around while holding the fish."

Although you have to have a "pair" to put the boat in gear while holding a eye/smallie/musky over the side on Mille Lacs in 3' rollers...